1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for prioritizing print requests for a shared network printer. Still more particularly, the illustrative embodiments are directed to a computer implemented method, and computer usable program product for controlling print requests to a shared network printer by prioritizing print requests from a local network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer printers in many establishments are often shared by multiple users and over multiple networks. Due to a shortage of space and/or resources, individual printers may not be individually assigned per user. Instead, network printers are normally shared. In some cases, there will only be one printer available for a very large group of people. Frequently, a user is unable to quickly print a document because the network printer is already busy. For a user who is on a local network, this is frequently a problem since the user may need a document quicker than the user printing from a remote network. If the network printer is also printing a very large document, that is either hundreds of pages or consumes a large amount of toner and memory, the user is unable to obtain needed documents quickly.